Kaakie unveils “Kaakitup” (maiden album)

 

The launch of Kaakie’s debut album christened “Kaakitup” to wit Elevation was held at Urban O Hotel in Osu a suburb of Accra.

The official unveiling on December 22, 2016, treated patrons with music with DJ Vision on his turntables, Q and A’s and other interesting stories about Xtra Large Music.

Known in real life as Grace Kaki Awo Ocansey [Kaakie] signed to Xtra Large Music headed by JMJ saw the artistes revealing what she went through before recording her debut album.

According to her "it got to a point in time I had to give up but with the aid of JMJ I was able to excel”.

Miss Ocansey is known for hit songs like, Zuuchia, Ronaldo, Too Much, Obolo bolo and other award-winning songs.

Winning the Best Reggae and Dancehall act in 2013 at the Ghana Music Awards, Kaakie has been one of the finest Dancehall artistes in Ghana.

Industry players like Ras Kuuku, Samini, Stonebwoy, Kofi Kinaata, Ebony, Bullet (Rough and Smooth), Edem among others graced the launch.

The album “Kaakitup” has 20 tracks acknowledging artistes who contributed their quota to the success of the album.

The Event was hosted by Trigmatic (Y FM) and Doreen Avio (Hitz FM/ Joy News).

Daddy Lumba goes raunchy with 'Enko Den' video

Just when we thought legendary Ghanaian musician Charles Kojo Fosu aka Daddy Lumba would leave fans dry with no music this festive season, the music star has a new one.

Titled Enko Den, we see the musician serenaded by a bevy of young ladies in eye-catching outfits.

It is often said that, once a soldier, always a soldier and so you expect to hear Lumba weave words around what he actually means to say.

The song was produced by RoRo.

Watch the video from below.

Dumelo's hilarious Christmas message will put the good cheer in you (VIDEO)

Actor turned politician, and then actor again John Dumelo seems to have recovered quite well from his party's defeat in 2016 general elections, and this hilarious video proves it.

If you love social media, then you're probably family with the absolutely amusing Snapchat filters that have turned the internet all high and crazy.

On his Instagram page today, John Dumelo sends season's greetings to his loyal followers with the funniest Snapchat filter:

John Dumelo is among the celebrities who have started rolling out their Christmas wishes to their fans, such Juliet Ibrahim and Gifty Anti.

Man, 37, arrested for circulating sexual tape of pastor’s wife

The Kasoa Division of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service has arrested a 37-year-old man for allegedly circulating a video clip of a pastor’s wife with whom he had a sexual affair through various mediums.

Mr Bright Atta, a community public announcer, was said to have engaged in some sexual escapades with the wife of the pastor after she requested GH¢200 to settle her daughter’s registration fee.

Negotiations

It was after their negotiations that the two had sex, which the suspect was said to have recorded, a video he later copied onto his laptop. The Kasoa DOVVSU said it was still investigating how the video was leaked.

While some residents of the town claimed young men who were regular visitors to the centre of the suspect saw the video on his laptop and downloaded it, others said the suspect sent his faulty laptop for repairs, resulting in the leakage of the video clip.

The suspect and the victim are not members of the same church.

Confirmation

The Kasoa DOVVSU Commander, District Superintendent of Police (DSP) Florence Anaman, who confirmed the arrest of the suspect in an interview with journalists, said, “We were here three days ago when we had information that a young man was circulating a video of the sexual act on the Internet.”

She said the police followed up on the lead and had the suspect arrested, adding: “We’re questioning him regarding the incident.”

The video of the sexual act is said to be circulating in Gomoa Ojobi in the Central Region, where the incident occurred.


More soon...

Appointee swerves swearing-in, rejects offer from 'toffee-sharing' Mahama

The President's  appointee for the position of Auditor-General, Daniel Domelovo, has rejected the offer, Editor-In-Chief of the Ghanaian Observer has claimed.

Egbert Faibille Jnr said Daniel Domelovo swerved his swearing-in ceremony scheduled last Friday at the Flagstaff House.

A letter signed by the out-going Chief of Staff Julius Debrah and sighted by myjoyonline.com said Mr Domelovo has been offered the post and is to confirm his acceptance of the appointment by December 28, 2016.

The accountant, who is based in Harare, Zimbabwe was in Accra when the offer was made.

President John Mahama has been criticised by the incoming administration for making 'last minute' appointments after losing the 2016 general elections.

Egbert Faibille Jnr, a legal practitioner, said on Joy News' Newsfile Saturday that he believes Daniel Domelovo may have gotten wind of the controversy surrounding these appointments.

He might have thought to himself, "I am better off doing my work and not to invite all this brouhaha [to myself]." 

".. and so he leaves town and the swearing-in that was supposed to have taken off yesterday hasn't come on. I believe that is the end of the road," the lawyer and NPP member said.

"I am telling you on authority that the swearing in was to take place yesterday...he has rejected this appointment..without equivocation, that is what I can tell you," he asserted.

Egbert Faibille castigated President Mahama's 'last-minute' appointments, describing them as 'a very, very shambolic' move.

President Mahama last Tuesday, swore-in Joseph Akanjolenur Whittal as the new head of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Josephine Nkrumah who now heads the NationalCommissionn for Civic Education (NCCE).

The CHRAJ position officially became vacant on November 4, 2015 - more than a year while the NCCE position was left without a substantive head since July 2015.

The NPP has dragged President Mahama to court over these appointments and also criticised rumoured 'last-minute' recruitments into the public and civil service.

Speaking on the appointments, the editor and lawyer described President Mahama's move as akin to 'distributing toffees to children'.

Despite conceding that the President is acting within the constitution, "the fact that you have the right does not mean you must do it".

Egbert was particularly critical of the appointment of a head of an anti-corruption and pro-human rights body, CHRAJ.

He suggested President Mahama has not demonstrated commitment to fight corruption and questioned why he would keep the post vacant for more than a year.

"I never knew that president Mahama had so much faith in CHRAJ that at the very last moment he wants to stamp his implementeur on CHRAJ before he leaves office," he said.

He suggested that it would have been graceful for Mahama to have left these appointments to the incoming President to make.

"If he wants to be remembered for anything that he has done, I don't think these appointments are anything that he must be proud of.

"There is a way that seemth right unto man but the end thereof judgement" he quoted scriptures to the President.

'Okada' business booms as traffic engulfs capital city

   An illegal business popularly known as “Okada” has taken over the transport business in the capital city as traffic situation worsens in the central business centre.

Traders and shoppers who cannot withstand hours in traffic have no alternative than to rely on Okada as means of transportation to their various destinations.

Some “Okada” riders who spoke to atinkaonline.com mentioned that the motorbikes ability to dodge the traffic has made their business lively ever since the traffic situation worsened in Accra central. They added that most people are people who patronise the Okada are usually in a rush which makes the Okada the best option.

Traders who also shared their views attributed the traffic to visitors who usually visits the Central business centre during festive seasons. They added that due to the festive season business ends very late and in order to get home on time, “Okada” is the only alternative.

Fire at Accra financial Centre near National Theatre

The Fire Service was there on time to prevent further damages.

But for the timely intervention of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the Accra financial Centre located at Ridge would have been engulfed by fire. 

The fire which affected the signage of the centre could not extend to other parts of the building following a prompt response by the GNFS which quickly deployed a team to control the fire. 

Though the cause of the fire is not yet known, the Regional Commander for Greater Accra, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Ebenezer Simpson, said it could be as a result of an electrical fault. 

The fire started at 6:10am on Saturday from one of the signage on the eight-storey building. 

Mr. Smpson told Citi News’ Zoe Abu Baido that the security personnel on duty at the centre attempted controlling the fire but were unsuccessful and thus called on the fire service. 

He said it took his men few minutes to get to the scene adding that they managed to put the fire under control. “It didn’t affect any property inside. 

Also, nobody was hurt because we managed to get everyone out of the building,” Chief Fire Officer Simpson added.

This comes to three the number of fire incidents recorded in the country in the last few days. 

A gas explosion at La in the Greater Accra claimed about six lives while scores of others were injured.

Gambia: Africa bloc vows to send troops if Jammeh stays

President Yahya Jammeh

West African leaders will send troops into The Gambia if its longtime ruler who lost elections does not step down next month, the president of the Economic Community of West African States said on Friday.

Marcel de Souza told reporters the regional bloc has chosen Senegal to lead any military intervention if President Yahya Jammeh does not hand over power.

"The deadline is January 19 when the mandate of Jammeh expires," de Souza said. "If he doesn't go, we have a standby force, which is already on alert. And it's this standby force that should be able to intervene to restore the will of the people."

This would not be the first time the bloc has intervened in a regional crisis. De Souza spoke to reporters in Bamako, Mali, even as ECOWAS continues to use diplomacy to get Jammeh to accept his December 1 defeat.

Jammeh at first shocked Gambians by accepting the loss, but announced a week later he had changed his mind. He said irregularities in the vote count made him question the win of Adama Barrow, a little-known businessman who was the opposition coalition candidate.

Troops seized the office of Gambia's electoral commission after Jammeh's later announcement, and he has mobilised troops across the tiny country that is almost completely surrounded by Senegal.

The UN Security Council this week urged Gambian security forces to "demonstrate maximum restraint" and again pressed Jammeh to accept defeat.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, called the troop deployment "deeply worrying, given the record of human rights violations in Gambia, including excessive use of force against demonstrators, arbitrary detention and deaths in custody, as well as allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees".

Jammeh took power in a coup 22 years ago.

MANASSEH’S FOLDER: In defence of Amissah-Arthur

Vice President, Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur

The defeat suffered by National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the just-ended election was a humiliating one. It was an emphatic rejection of an eight-year legacy of two Presidents – Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills of blessed memory [January 2009 to July 2012] and John Dramani Mahama [July 2012 to date]. The incumbent party, with all its resources, campaigned more than an opposition party. The NDC dwarfed its main contender, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), in every resource-related armoury that mattered in the election. But Ghanaians said emphatically that they wanted change, a change that was championed by the NPP’s Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

I have monitored post-election discussions and read articles on mainstream and on social media about the reasons the NDC lost the election. One major reason that runs through almost all the analyses is the role of Vice-President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, the running mate of President John Mahama in the 2016 elections. He seems to be receiving more criticisms in some analyses than the man who was the face of the party – John Dramani Mahama.

His critics say he added nothing to the ticket and, for the fact that his home region fell to the opposition NPP, he was one of the main reasons the NDC lost the election. I agree that the NPP’s running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, was very instrumental in the victory of the NPP. For this reason, there was an equal expectation from Mr. Amissah-Arthur. However, I think we have been unfair to the Vice-President in the manner we criticise him and lay a chunk of the blame at his doorstep. His contribution may be a minor or insignificant reason for the defeat, and not a major reason, as his critics want us to believe.

Vice-President Amissah-Arthur was the running mate of President Mahama when they won the 2012 elections. Between 2012 and 2016, one could point to 729 sins, which President Mahama committed, and for which reason a voter who endorsed him in 2012 would not want to vote for him in 2016. But I don’t think Vice-President Amissah-Arthur went into the 2016 election with such a dented image. Those who say the NDC lost many seats in Amissah Arthur’s home region should be reminded that when President Mills led the NDC to win the 2008 elections, the NPP had only four seats in the Northern Region. In 2012 and 2016 when President Mahama led the party, the NPP has increased the number of seats in the Northern Region to 13. This is the President’s home region, a region that is loyal to the NDC and does not swing like Amissah-Arthur’s Central Region.

When an incumbent party is contesting election, it often relies on what it has done while an opposition party preaches what it will do. The NDC had been in office for the past eight years and relied on its projects and programmes. The party campaigned mainly on President Mahama’s legacy because it wanted to mask the fact that it had been in power for eight years.

The NPP, which had been in opposition for the past eight years, pointed out to Ghanaians the ills of the government and provided alternatives. Apart from infrastructure developments, which were fraught with allegations of price inflations and fraudulent procurement deals, the NDC did not have a good story to tell in this election. Beyond the photographs in the green book, the NDC as a party and government, was very difficult to market in the run up to the 2016 election. So Dr. Bawumia had more weapons in his armoury than Mr. Amissah-Arthur. It is a fact that Dr. Bawumia is far more exciting to listen to than Mr. Amissah-Arthur on the political campaign platform, but the reason the NDC lost had very little to do with a “boring” or “uninspiring” running mate. The outcome of the election was the rejection of a bad legacy, mainly the John Mahama legacy.

Before we argue further, let us try to answer the question why Ghanaians rejected the NDC. Why did the NPP beat the incumbent party with more than one million votes? Did the angry voters who voted against the NDC (or its loyalists who did not vote, as in the case of the Volta Region) do so because they had Amissah-Arthur in mind? I don’t think so.

One of the main reasons the NDC lost was corruption. The NDC government did not give Ghanaians the time to breathe before serving us with one corruption scandal after the other. We became numb and immune to the shocks that should have greeted the breaking of such scandals, but we did not forget them on Election Day. In all the corruption scandals that broke in the last four years, none of them involved Mr. Amissah-Arthur or his office. Not a single report linked him to any of the corruption scandals.

Another reason many people lost faith in the NDC government was the mismanagement of the economy and its attendant problems of unemployment, poisoned business environment among others. The fate of the economy was dictated by the dishonesty of the government. According to the Zimbabwean businessman, Strive Masiyiwa, “Mismanagement and corruption are identical twins. Where you find one, the other is always nearby.”

The NDC’s failure to tame the economy could not be blamed on the lack of ideas. You cannot manage an economy when stealing seems very normal in the government. Our government was practising money laundering of a sort. Taxes and monies that were borrowed were handed over to local and international businessmen and women through dubious contracts. Some of those contracts were simply awarded in order to legitimise, wash or launder the stolen funds. A lot of this happened between July 2012 and December 2012. Anybody who doubts me should check when most of the outrageous and fraudulent contracts in the GYEEDA and SADA scandals were signed. When the NDC under Mahama assumed office in 2013, the economy was already in a mess. It would have taken a magician to turn things around, but the Vice-President wasn’t one, especially when the stealing continued unabated.

Mr. Amissah-Arthur did not have a good product to sell in the 2016 election when the issue of the economy came up. He had no good points with which to reply Dr. Bawumia.

Others have also attributed the loss of the NDC to the arrogance of power and impunity government officials displayed in the midst of heavy criticism. The Vice-President did not exhibit these traits, neither were officials from his office involved in the open show of opulence and arrogance. The Vice-President was not responsible for the decision to free the Montie 3, who were jailed by the Supreme Court for insulting and threatening Supreme Court judges. Mr. Amissah-Arthur was not the reason the NDC’s founder and former President Rawlings ditched the party.

Some may argue that the Vice-President assists the President and should not be absolved of any wrongdoing of the President. But those who know how things work in our republic will tell you that the Vice-President often has no say in the affairs of the Presidency, at least from our experiences with some past governments. When President Atta-Mills was in charge of our Republic, for instance, the likes of Koku Anyidoho were more powerful than Vice-President John Mahama. And I dare say some of President Mahama’s boys are more powerful than Vice-President Amissah-Arthur. Their words and instructions carry more weight than his.




Vice President Amissah-Arthur and President Mahama

Mr. Amissah-Arthur was the least of the NDC’s problems. We have not been told of his involvement in any of the numerous scandals that sank and disgraced the government on December 7. His brothers and sisters were not involved in the looting of state property. His wife was not involved in grabbing contracts and stealing from the state without shame. When mention is made of arrogance of power and impunity, he is about the last person that comes to mind in this government.

So let’s cut the old man some slack. He may not have been as inspiring and exciting on the campaign platform, but let us not forget that in 2008, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the NPP was more exciting and inspiring than Professor John Evans Atta-Mills of the NDC, who went on to win the elections.

On December 7, 2016, Ghanaians voted against corruption. They voted against impunity. They voted against greed. They voted against a scandal-ridden government. They voted against incompetence. They voted against a government of family and friends. They voted against mismanagement. They voted against stealing, hoarding and splashing in times of election. They voted against a government that placed live charcoal on their palms and forced them to carry it with care and smiles. They voted against insult to their intelligence. They voted for change.

Mr. Kwesi Bekoe Amissah Arthur may not have added much to the NDC’s campaign. But I sincerely believe he did not take much away from the fortunes of the umbrella family. If the NDC cares to know why it lost, let them go and look for those who danced to Daddy Lumba’s “Yentie Obiaa” while the nation cried for salvation. Our elders say the disease that will kill a man first breaks sticks into his ears. If there are men and women in the NDC whose ears were sealed with metals, then Amissah-Arthur, was certainly not one of them.

The writer, Manasseh Azure Awuni, is a senior broadcast journalist with Joy 99.7 FM. His email address is azureachebe2@yahoo.com. The views expressed in this article are his personal opinions and do not reflect, in any form or shape, those of The Multimedia Group, where he works.

Egypt arrests Al Jazeera news producer during vacation

Al Jazeera says it holds Egyptian authorities responsible for Hussein's safety.

An Al Jazeera news producer has been arrested in Egypt over accusations of attempting to overthrow the government and being a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Mahmoud Hussein was arrested at his Cairo home on Friday, Al Jazeera Media Network said, but it was not known where he was being held. 

"Al Jazeera holds Egyptian authorities responsible for the safety of Hussein and is calling for his immediate release," the Qatar-based network said in a statement.

Hussein, who lives in the capital Doha, used to work in Egypt before Al Jazeera closed its office there in 2013.

He was questioned for more than 15 hours at Cairo's airport on Tuesday after arriving for a vacation, security sources told The Associated Press news agency.

State security also stormed the homes of Hussein's two brothers and arrested them.

Officials from the Interior Ministry were not immediately available for comment.

Egyptian authorities have over the past few years arrested several Al Jazeera employees, raising concerns over media freedom in the country.

In May, a Cairo court recommended the death penalty against two of them, charged in absentia, with endangering national security by allegedly leaking state secrets to Qatar.

Al Jazeera's Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste - along with seven colleagues outside the country - were accused of spreading "false news" during their coverage of demonstrations against a military overthrow of then-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Unmarried men are useless – Counselor Lutterodt

Pastor and Controversial Counselor, George Lutterodt has described men who are not married as ‘useless’.

Likening them as spoilt vegetables in a dustbin, he said single men including Roman Fathers and even the Pope lack the blessings of God in marriage.

“Marrying a woman is a blessing. A man who is of age, yet not married is as useless as a spoilt vegetable in a dustbin including the fathers and popes. I therefore urge the men of today to wake up and marry. Stop the laziness for the grace of God to shine upon your entire life! There is a special form of blessing reserved for only married people…” he noted on Atinka FM.

Counselor Lutterodt said though some women will scare men from marriage, it is not a guarantee for any man to stay single.

He maintained that, “marriage is what makes you a man and he who finds a wife obtains favor from the Lord. No man can be very successful if he is not married so if you go for the woman and you can’t take care of her curses await you.”

Be careful of unauthorised consumables which flood the market on Christmas – FDA warns

Food and Drugs Authority to wage war on unauthorized consumables this Christmas

The Public Relations Officer of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Mr. James Lartey has cautioned the general public to be careful about the kinds of consumables they purchase on the market for the festive season.

He said there is usually an influx of unauthorised consumables on the market when Christmas approaches and as such it is the responsibility of consumers to be extra careful.

James Lartey gave the caution after Kasapa News visited the Makola and Kaneshie markets respectively on Wednesday to find out how business was doing and chanced upon some consumables especially drinks and biscuits which had no expiry and manufacturing date.

Mr. James Lartey stated that the FDA has deployed some National Service Personnel to various markets to check for unauthorised goods and any trader found with such items will be punished by the law.

More Ghanaian migrants languishing in Italy

The number of irregular migrants from Ghana to Italy rose from 4,450 last year, to 5,545 from January to November, this year, Sylvia Lopez-Ekra, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission has disclosed.

Ms. Lopez-Ekrah said the number of irregular migrants could be more because some of the migrants would hide their identities as Ghanaians because the reasons for leaving Ghana to seek asylum were deceptive to the Italian authorities.

Political persecution and civil strife are some of the reasons cited by the irregular migrants and these are non-existent in Ghana. The IOM Chief of Mission told the audience at the premiering of a documentary “Wallah–Je te Jure,” that the irregular migrants arrived in Italy to seek greener pastures through unapproved routes, at the perils of their lives, travelling from Ghana through the desert to Libya and then to Lempudesa, an Island in Italy.

Ms. Lopez- Ekrah said the number of deaths associated with the irregular migrations from the West Africa sub-region to Italy, also rose from 3,600 to 4,700, including Ghanaians, though she could not provide the figure.

“This film seeks to open the eyes of the world about what is happening in irregular migration,” she said adding “a lot of Ghanaians have taken to this dangerous irregular migration”.

She said migration information centres have been established in Accra at the Ghana Immigration office and in Sunyani to assist people with the information they require to travel legally and the dangers associated with irregular migrations.

The IOM Chief of Mission expressed the need for prospective irregular migrants to take advantage of the alternative livelihood projects available and desist from travelling abroad through unorthodox ways.

The “Wallah-Je tu jure” which was produced by IOM Niger was premiered as part of the Global Migration Film Festival to commemorate International Migration Day scheduled on December 18 to highlight the issue of irregular migration that has become a global challenge.

The film which was strategically shown to the Nima community, a suburb of Accra, believed to be one of the origins of irregular migrants, tells stories of African men and women travelling through dangerous and irregular routes to get to Italy.

From small villages in West Africa to the Ghettos of Agadez in Niger and the Sea, the film gives a vivid account of how the irregular migrants embarked on the journey to Italy and the obstacles migrants face in the risky journey.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator, Christine Evans-Klock noted that poverty was one of the reasons that people ventured into irregular migration and underscored the sustainable development goals, the global development agenda that sought to end poverty in all its forms and “leaves nobody behind”.

She expressed the need to integrate refugees and irregular migrants into communities and the need to uphold their fundamental human rights. The Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Heather Cameron, urged people to stay safe and avoid irregular migrations, expressing the hope that the film would make a difference in addressing irregular migration.

Superintendent Mark Boakye of the Ghana Immigration Service, who provided a further interpretation of the film that was largely in French, urged the public to patronise the immigration information centres to be informed about the dangers of irregular migration.

Eric Opoku Ware, the Founder and President of Sahara Hustlers, gave an account of his experience on how he travelled to Libya through the desert to seek greener pastures in Italy, saying that it was a dangerous venture and urged the youth who want to engage in irregular migration to avoid it to save their lives.

Anas exposes Highway Patrol Police officer

Fresh investigations by the New Crusading Guide has revealed that some police officers have resorted to using highway patrol duties for their personal benefit, intimidating civilians at will, flexing their guns and threatening to beat up and kill those who question their authority. 

In a series of ongoing exposes by this newspaper and its readers, we begin with the story of police officer Justice Nunekpe of the Ghana Police service. 

Over the course of two weeks, this police officer has been observed mounting random checks and stopping cars between Nsawam and Anyinam on the main Accra to Kumasi road. 

In a day, police officer Justice Nunukpe together with some colleagues park their police car at over seven points within the short stretch to intimidate, extort money or abuse drivers and road users who question their authority. Brandishing AK 47 assault rifles and dressed in helmets and heavy police gear, these officers do not just check cars, they end up assaulting some passengers.

In Ghana, police highway patrols are meant to protect civilians, check road safety and ultimately ensure the security of all Ghanaians.


In the past, the efforts of police highway patrol teams have led to the seizure of illegally acquired weapons or helped stalled comes on our major highways. As such, there is the need for both civilians and police officers to give each other respect to achieve this positive aim of public safety and security. 

Yet, the behavior of Police officer Justice Nunekpe, as captured by our cameras is anything but professional.

On one ride with some top American documentary filmmakers from Accra to Kumasi, we encountered Police officer Justice Nunekpe and his colleagues a few minutes after Nsawam. 

As usual, he stopped the vehicle and ordered our driver to open the boot. Knowing him for his bullying tactics which we observed over the course of two weeks, the driver dutifully obeyed and opened his boot. 

Brandishing his AK 47 assault rifle, the officer then asked him to open about 7 bags that contained camera and filming equipment. The driver started unpacking.


Just then, the officer called another one of his colleagues who joined him and then they rushed from the boot towards one of the filmmakers inside the car who was the whole incident on him phone's camera. 

Showing his gun, the officer asked the filmmaker to hand over his camera. The filmmaker refused by saying no to the police officer. In an angry exchange of words between the two, the police officer pushed the filmmaker in his seat, which blocking the car door and holding on to his gun.



Sticking with this intimidation tactic, the officer held on to the passenger door with one hand while holding his gun with the other, leaving no room for the filmmaker to step out or turn around. This continued for long, until one of the local journalists called another police officer on phone to intervene.


"You're lucky it's because of my boss, otherwise you'll be crying by now," the police officer said to another filmmaker in the car.

Although Ghana enjoys relative peace and has been lauded by the international community and the world at large, actions such as that exhibited by this police officer go a long way to tarnish the image of the country. 

According to one of the American documentary filmmakers who witnessed the scene, officers like this should be checked to prevent police brutality. 

He cited examples of police mishandling and killing citizens in the U.S., which has led to several unrests and the black lives matter movement. 

"Just look at the way he was holding that gun. It can just go off on anybody and then he'll say it's an accident," the filmmaker observed. "Ghanaians should make sure such things don't happen in such a peaceful country".

Half-Assini Hospital records high cases of HIV/AIDs

The Half Assini Government Hospital has so far recorded a total of 119 HIV cases as against 36 cases last year. 

Mr Kwame Koomson, HIV Data Officer at the Hospital, made this known at Half Assini during a free blood screen exercise organized by Western Regional Network of Association of People Living with HIV (NAP+Ghana). 

He said the situation was worrying and that in 2014 only 22 cases were recorded in the area only for it to go up to 119 cases this year. 

Ms Patience Kwofie, In-charge of HIV Testing and Counselling of the Hospital, advised the public to check their HIV status at least every three months and urged them to adhere to HIV counselling to either avoid getting re-infected or spreading the menace. 

Mr Thomas Kwamenlah, Chairman of NAP+Ghana, said the network has embarked on a Community Services Strengthening (CSS) in Half Assini area, to reach out to communities with medical services and to educate them on the need to check their HIV status. 

Mr Thomson Kwamenlah said the Network in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission and with funds from GlobalAID normally conducted free blood screening exercise for the people and those who tested positive are referred to the hospital for the necessary assistance. 

He explained that the programme dubbed “Operation 90,90,90” started early this year and has so far covered Ahanta East and West, Sekondi /Takoradi, Tarkwa, Enchi, Wassa Akropong and Ellembele Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). 

He said under the programme the Ghana Aids Commission was targeting to put 90 Percent of people who tested positive for HIV on anti-retroviral drugs so as reduce the rate of infection in future. 

Mr Kwamenlah said the programme was being organised in selected regions across the country including Ashanti, Central, Greater Accra and Western. 

He said a similar programme had already been held at Tikobo No.1 in the Jomoro District but expressed concerned about the low turn-out at the Programme at Half-Assini despite adequate publicity on it. 

The Regional Chairman announced that enough anti-retroviral drugs have been made available to Half-Assini Government Hospital and hinted that the Commission would soon train CHPS Compound attendants to handle HIV/AIDS cases. 

In all About 150 people including children were screened.

TOR to refine 18 million barrels of crude in 2017

The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has announced it will from next year refine between 16 to 18 million barrels of crude oil. 

The crude will be from the Jubilee oil fields and subsequently other oil fields in Ghana. 

The Managing Director of TOR, Kwame Awuah Darko disclosed this when he addressed staff of the company at an end of year thanksgiving ceremony in Tema. 

According to him, the expansion projects carried out by TOR should translate into refining the increased quantities of crude. 

“The plan the company has in place is to make sure that in 2017 February, we go through our turnaround maintenance and because of the expanded capacity we now have we are planning to refine between 16 and 18 million barrels of crude oil in 2017. We are going to be in a place which I believe will be a much stronger place by the virtue of the foundation that we have laid,” he said. 

They workers have among other things argued that refining the nation’s crude abroad is not cost effective. 

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has cautioned that TOR should only be allowed to refine crude oil if it will be cheaper. 

But Mr. Awuah Darko was optimistic management will continue with laid down processes to achieve its set target.

 “The concrete which we have cast is not yet hardened so there is still a lot of fragility and a lot of work to be done,” he asserted. 

Kwame Awuah Darko who assumed office about a year now is however expected to leave office with the coming in of a new government.

 In a brief statement to the staff of TOR, he expressed his appreciation to all and urged collaboration with the new management to take over.

 “I am very sure that this is the very last time I will address you as a Managing Director hence change has come and when that change comes, we must all support that change and work accordingly,” he observed. 


Source: citifmonline.com